Check out the very cool artwork of Maarten Baas, a Dutch designer whose work sits at the intersection of art and design. His website describes his work:
He occupies a unique position in the field, embodying conceptual art, craftsmanship, installation, public space and performance into his oeuvre. He's known for his rebellious, intellectual, theatrical and artistic style. Baas' most renowned works are Smoke, Clay and Real Time, that gave him instant worldwide recognition. In 2009, he was named 'Designer of the Year' at Design Basel/ Miami. In 2012, the New York Times listed both Smoke and Clay in its 'Top 25 Design Classics of the Future'. In 2016, Baas won the Artprize for his Real Time Sweepers clock.
My favorite series of his is called "Real Time—Public Works," which he describes this way:
The Real Time series are 12-hour films of performances indicating the time. With Real Time, Baas combines theatre, art, film and design in a series of new clock designs. Real Time was launched in April 2009 at the Salone Del Mobile in Milan (IT). He first presented the Sweepers clock, Analog Digital and the Grandfather clock. Since then, Real Time has expanded from a Grandmother clock and a Self Portrait clock, to an iPhone app and special commissions, such as the Schiphol clock that was launched in July 2016.
One of his Real Time public works is located just outside Paddington Station. IanVisits explains:
For this clock, Baas filmed an actor dressed in a 19th-century three-piece suit in reference to Paddington Station's architect, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Although mostly seen as a dark silhouette against the clock face, the actor comes close enough to the glass that you get to see the details of his clothing. Every so often he'll put on a top hat, in the style of Brunel, but maybe either not visible or a nod to modern sensibilities, no cigar. Throughout, he draws minute and hour hands, then a minute later has to clean the clock face and redraw the whole thing, every single minute.
I find the Real Time clocks mesmerizing–I could watch the little person inside of the clock drawing, erasing, and then redrawing the clock hands for hours. What a very cool project!
